A WOMAN with a six-month suspended prison sentence hanging over her has been spared serving time behind bars, despite admitting drugs and public order charges.

Emily Jones, of Godolphin Close, Freshbrook, was given the suspended sentence in May last year for carrying a nine-inch hunting knife and possessing cocaine.

Leaving court after that hearing, Jones was arrested over an incident on March 14 on a bus travelling along Rodbourne Road.

Good Samaritan Paul McKinlay had confronted 21-year-old Jones’s boyfriend, who was threatening other passengers when Jones took out a knife and slashed Mr McKinlay across the chest.

Jones spent several months remanded in custody accused of causing actual bodily harm in the incident.

She was given a nine-month jail sentence for the offence when she appeared in court last October but the suspended sentence was not activated and she was freed a couple of weeks after the hearing.

Last month she was arrested for further public order offences and possession of class A drugs.

After magistrates heard she was dealing with her alcohol issues they decided not to activate the prison sentence.

Pauline Lambert, prosecuting at Swindon Magistrates Court on Wednesday, said: “On January 13 at around 9pm a member of the public phoned the police stating that he was in the Brunel Centre and a female has gone up to him, become aggressive and he was fearing for his safety.”

When the police arrived they found Jones slumped against railings shouting abuse at the top of her voice.

She tried to lunge at the man who had called the police but was so drunk she could not stand up.

Rob Ross, defending Jones, urged the magistrates not to send her to prison.

He said that at the time of the offences last year Jones “felt she was out of control, carrying knives, getting drunk and using drugs. It was a desperate situation”.

He said she had served the equivalent of a seven-month sentence while remanded in custody and had started to address a number of issues.

He accepted that her offences in January “obviously put her in breach of the suspended sentence”, but added: “Bearing in mind what probation are trying to do with this girl, we could give her a little more support.”

After admitting possession of cocaine and heroin and a public order offence, Jones was given a six-month community order with alcohol treatment and supervision requirements and fined £70 for threatening behaviour with a £60 victim surcharge and £20 in court costs.